


young love / nothing quite the same.

by safetylanding



Category: Dance Academy (TV 2010)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Present Tense, because im a GREMLIN, me posting bengrace content in the year 2020, this isnt even good enough to count as purple prose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27244414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/safetylanding/pseuds/safetylanding
Summary: He sees, as they dance, all of it. A montage playing in his head to the song’s sweet melody. Everything they were supposed to have had, everything he missed chasing after Tara and the national for so long. Everything he is beginning to realise he might just still want.And just as soon as it began, it’s over, the song fading out as another begins, and reality sets back in. Grace opens her mouth to say something, but appears to think better of it after a moment, the thick veil of awkwardness descending on them once more.or: ben and grace reunite at the opening of his and tara's company. he reflects.
Relationships: Ben Tickle/Grace Whitney
Kudos: 2





	young love / nothing quite the same.

**Author's Note:**

> if you dont stream young love while reading this did you really read it  
> don't ask me why they're playing a slow ass song at a celebration because i am not here for logic i am here for my token heterosexuals getting their happy ending

The soft, familiar tune of Young Love illuminates the cool night air that blows in through the open doors of what is now the home of his and Tara’s little company, and all at once Ben feels eighteen again - eighteen and stupid, as he extends his hand toward Grace, that same old boyish smile on his face. Plenty has changed in the last few years, and it’s evident in the way Grace carries herself. Her petite form is soft as ever, though it’s easy to see it isn’t so forced anymore, that there is nothing dark looming behind bright blue eyes.

“It’s been a while.” Her laugh is all too familiar.  
A pang of nostalgia plays at Ben’s chest, he can almost hear the bustle of the third year dorms and smell the constant cooking of food from the communal kitchen. Oh, he longs for those days sometimes, something he can’t help but question as of late. Most everyone has reunited, even Ethan has made his long awaited return from beneath the Barcelonan sun. Hell, almost all of their little cohort works with him and Tara nowadays, and so he’s never quite been able to put a finger on what it is that tugs him so desperately back in time – or maybe he has, and he just hasn’t wanted to. Until now.   
She’s the missing piece, of course she is. Very rarely has Ben ever allowed his mind to wander to what might have happened had Grace come to Texas with him, or had he gone travelling with her, but in this moment he can’t help it. He aches to know this new version of Grace, the one so clearly not haunted by the ghosts of her mother and the girl she wanted to be. The Grace he had known she could have been, but that he had never been lucky enough to see, not really.

“I know. Marcus hasn’t stopped mourning your absence from the ballet world.” Ben’s eyes roll, though the teasing tone of his voice betrays his false annoyance, “just for fun?”   
Hesitance adornes her features, a sudden painful flash back to when he’d kissed her side stage, only to realise he had come to realise it had been her all along far too late. When he’d lost the one person he should have kept, the one thing he  _ would  _ have kept had he woken to what he had sooner.   
In the brief moment of silence, Ben can’t help but wonder if, perhaps, her train of thought has arrived at the same station as his.   
The weight of the world lifts from his shoulders when a dainty hand rests in his, and laughter tumbles from his lips as he tugs her to the dance floor.

An embarrassing mix of ballet and general slow dancing refuses to match the music, and the past years fade away in an instant. In this moment, what he has long considered to be their song playing softly over the studio speakers, time rewrites itself. In this moment, and for the next three minutes, he did follow her. To Vietnam for Christmas, to Spain to see Ethan, and then home. To Texas, where Lucy and Marcus welcomed them both with a warm embrace. They came here tonight together, and maybe they’re in love, or maybe they’re treading the fine line between friendship and more, and Lucy and Marcus roll their eyes at the evident flirting over the dinner table every night.   
He sees, as they dance, all of it. A montage playing in his head to the song’s sweet melody. Everything they were supposed to have had, everything he missed chasing after Tara and the national for so long. Everything he is beginning to realise he might just still want.

And just as soon as it began, it’s over, the song fading out as another begins, and reality sets back in. Grace opens her mouth to say something, but appears to think better of it after a moment, the thick veil of awkwardness descending on them once more.

Though they pull apart as the moment shatters, Ben does not deign to release her soft hand from his, he may never have been the smartest of them all, but even he is not so foolish as to let go twice.

  
  
  
  



End file.
